Express News screengrab.
PESHAWAR/ JAMRUD: Eleven khasadar officials who were providing security to a polio team were killed in two separate blasts in Jamrud on Saturday.
A vehicle of a polio team in the Lashora area of the town was targeted in the first explosion while the vehicle of the line officer of the polio team was reportedly the target of the second attack.
A child was also killed in the explosions.
Eleven paramilitary troops and one child died after the bombs detonated in the Lashora area of Jamrud Tehsil in Khyber tribal district, 30 kilometres southwest of the city of Peshawar, senior administration official Jahangir Khan told AFP.
The troops were protecting a convoy of health workers who were on their way to administer anti-polio drops to children as part of a three-day campaign against polio that started Friday, he said.
"A convoy of three vehicles was taking polio workers to administer the drops and the bombs exploded after the first vehicle that was carrying polio workers crossed the spot," Khan said.
He added that two vehicles belonging to the medical team were also damaged in the explosions.
Samim Jan, chief of the government-run hospital in Jamrud, confirmed the causalities.
"Twelve dead bodies and three injured were brought here, one of the injured is in critical condition," he told AFP.
Jan also said that eight of the injured have been shifted to Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar. Emergency was declared at the complex.
Rehman Khan, a senior health official in Khyber tribal district, said the polio campaign has been temporarily suspended in the Jamrud area.
"We will resume administering of polio drops when the security situation is better," he told AFP.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Polio teams have been the target of various attacks in the country. Militant groups see vaccination campaigns as a cover for espionage there are also long-running rumours about polio drops causing infertility.
More than 40 people, including health workers and police guarding the teams which administer polio drops to children, have been killed in Pakistan since December 2012.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria.
According to the World Health Organisation, Pakistan recorded 91 cases of polio last year, up from 58 in 2012.
COMMENTS (15)
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@unbelievable Khasadars do not wear Khaki uniforms, therefore it is very possible that they were bombed out by the Armyß
Rex Minor
I guess these people were excluded from the ceasefire?
@ali ahmed: Talks are over I think. And your much wanted 'surgical strikes' are being carried out.
Unless those orchestrating these murders are not targeted, such killings will continue.
To clear our conscious, let's blame CIA and NATO for this and move on.
You must publish the names of the 11 security officials who were killed protecting polio workers. These people are the true heroes of your nation.
A suggestion for ET - I have also said this in the past - please create a section in your website dedicated in memory of those who have laid down their lives in quest for a polio free Pakistan. All these brave and selfless people who have been killed by religious zealots should be commemorated and honoured there. Concerned Pakistanis who want to help the families of these brave people should also be able to make donations over there.
American conspiracy to derail the talk...PTI
Where are the clergy to give fatwa against people countering polio drops. It should become a must for school admission, hospital, getting CNIC or other official documents made...
Jamrud is part of FATA & ET FC Personal were targeted while they were protecting polio workers.
These vaccines have been depicted as "Hindu vaccines" by overly pious elements in the region. It brought out a level of zeal that resulted in these deaths.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un May God protect us from the evil of terrorists and give strength and patience to the deceased nears and dears. Though difficult to face the situation in tribal area, but at least the political agent should have managed the security of the teams and the security personnels.
The enemies of the State ....... are winning.
All well and good with the 'surgical strikes' but it will all mean little to no progress without protecting people doing all the good work all over the country.